The band's longtime guitar tech, Elwood Francis, will take over on bass, per Hill's wishes.

Before working with ZZ Top, Francis served as a guitar tech for artists such as Joe Perry, Izzy Stradlin and Gilby Clarke of Guns N' Roses and the Black Crowes' Rich Robinson.

"Billy taught me to slow down and play every third note," Francis said when asked what he had learned from working with Gibbons in an interview with Pure Salem Guitars.